Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have landed a job in Jersey City. If I rent/buy in New Brunswick, I don't know how long the commute will be on the train. (Either Jersey Ave or New Brunswick station). Please share your experience on commuting times, tips , costs, things to look out for etc w.r.t commute to Jersey City.
Any nuances or annoying things while commuting to Jersey City on the Northeast Corridor line , please elaborate ????
Well New Brunswick station has better service than Jersey Ave. You can get lucky and take the "Super Express" trains from NB that make no stops until Newark, at which you'll transfer to the PATH to Jersey City. I don't know if regular "Express" trains of any type stop at Jersey Ave or if it's just local trains only. Check out njtransit.com and look at the schedules for both.
Express or Super Express, you can get from NB to Newark Penn in 20-30 minutes. Transfer to PATH and it's another 10-15 minutes to Jersey City, depending on which stop you need to get to. So that's 30-45 minutes in-train time. Add time getting to New Brunswick station and waiting on the platform, a few minutes at least for the transfer in Newark, and however long you need to get from the PATH station of choice in Jersey City to your office. If this transit commute is going to be your 5x a week routine, I recommend finding a residence within walking distance or a short bus ride of the NB train station. Parking near the station isn't easy.
Thanks for the info Lammius. Couple of questions.
1. Do you know what the peak time is from New Brunswick to Newark Penn ?
2. Do you know if seats are available in the train mostly or sometimes standing is an option ?
3. Also please elaborate on the parking situation at New Brunswick station. How do they all manage to park there ? What are my options to park at the NB station.
Thanks for the info Lammius. Couple of questions.
1. Do you know what the peak time is from New Brunswick to Newark Penn ?
2. Do you know if seats are available in the train mostly or sometimes standing is an option ?
3. Also please elaborate on the parking situation at New Brunswick station. How do they all manage to park there ? What are my options to park at the NB station.
Thanks once again for your help.
1. Hmm, well according to the schedule on njtransit.com the "peak period" in the morning is between 5:30 and 8:30 AM. That means you can't use an off peak round trip ticket, rather you have to pay standard one-way fare. As far as when the highest number of passengers are making the trip (i.e. most crowded trains) I'm not entirely sure, but I know most of them between 6:30 and 8:30 get pretty packed. The good thing is that on most of the express trains, New Brunswick is only the second stop, so there's lots of room available when you get on. By the time you reach Metropark, though, you'll have lots of people crowded on with you.
2. Most of the time in the morning you'll have seats available, because as I said, NB is the 2nd stop on most of the express trains (after Jersey Ave). Lots of people will be getting on afterward so it will get crowded. Coming home, because you'll be getting on in Newark, not New York, you may have difficulty getting a seat, but if you take a train that stops at locations before New Brunswick, you'll see seats opening, especially after Metropark.
3. The primary parking facility at New Brunswick station is the Ferren Parking Deck on Albany Street. There is a mix of day and monthly parking. Monthly parking usually has a very long waiting list (a couple years or more) for a pass. Some of the other parking decks in downtown New Brunswick have monthly parking too, but I imagine it's tough to come by as well, since so many downtown workers need parking. Really your best bet is to get a place within walking distance or a short bus ride away. I used to live in Highland Park near New Brunswick and made a 20 minute walk to the NB train station or took the bus. Jersey Avenue station has a large parking lot, but I imagine parking is tough to come by there as well. And you know what, driving into New Brunswick sucks during commuting hours, so why try to drive in from some place far away?
You have shared excellent information here. Thanks for giving me the reality about NB parking.
I'm in a toss between North Brunswick and Aberdeen. In North Brunswick I like Renaissance Glen/Manor but parking in Jersey Ave or New Brunswick is difficult. So now I'm looking at Aberdeen. I like the Avalon there.I'mm not sure how parking will be @ Aberdeen.
Looks like Aberdeen is out from my list of possible places to live. In North Brunswick , I'm looking at Renaissance Glen, but I have not found info on getting to Jersey Ave or New Brunswick from Renaissance Glen without driving there by car. Does anyone know how Renaissance renters go to the train station without driving ?? Looks like door to door from North Brunswick to JC will be 60 - 75 mins. But the only problem for me right now is getting to Jersey Ave or New Brunswick from Renaissance Glen. Any other good apartments people can recommend that'll be closer to Jersey Ave or NB.
Thanks
Hmm, from North Brunswick your only transit connections are NJ Transit buses. Routes 811 and 814 go between North Brunswick and downtown New Brunswick. Check njtransit.com for their schedules to see which route goes to the apartment complex and to see if the timetable works for you.
Also check out Edison. There are apartment complexes on the border of Edison and Piscataway that are fairly young (maybe 5-10 years old) and have a jitney service directly to the Edison train station that is timed perfectly for your transfer. The jitney service is called Edison Light Transit and there's info on the Edison Township website. The jitney goes to some portions of Piscataway as well. The apartment complexes served seem very nice and lots of young professionals live there.
There's also a jitney that serves Metuchen station that goes into parts of Edison. I think it's called the Metuchen Community Link (MCL) or something like that.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
